Review Carnival Glory Cruise 12-19-15

[GetmeoutofKentucky]

I just wanted to do a quick review with some of the highlights or some of the information that may be helpful to others. I can’t possibly do as good of a job as others have done. I was traveling with my daughter 28, son 24 and 2 adult friends. This was my family’s first cruise but our 2 friends had cruised at least 7 times before. Overall we had a great cruise and the weather was perfect. It usually only rained at night and we were not affected by weather at all.

 

Flew in to Ft Lauderdale 2 days before cruise. Rented car from Dollar with drop off “Port of Miami” on the day of the cruise. This worked great for us. After I dropped off all of the bags and others at the port I returned the car to the airport rental area and dollar drove me back to the port for free.

 

Bought Faster to the Fun and it was definitely worth it for us. We arrived about 10 am and while I was returning the car everyone else got checked in with the luggage (including mine). When I arrived I just went up to FTF window and easy check in. Waited about 30 min and then were allowed to board the ship. Got the layout of the ship, ate lunch before the crowd came and unpacked before we left the port.

 

Cabin – Balcony room 7415 – me and 2 kids in room so all had a bed about twin size. Plenty of storage space. Definitely good to bring hangers. We brought about 15 wire hangers that we just left when done. Back of door shoe bag definitely helpful for organizing (sunblock, cards, first aid supplies, etc.). Magnetic hooks (both heavy duty and light) were great to hang hats and stuff out of the way. Power strip with 3 outlets and 3 USB plugs was perfect for our needs. Suitcases slid under the beds and we were all set.

Would get Balcony room again since we did like to go out and see the sky, weather, ports, sit out at night, etc.

Everyone talks about the towel animals, the great service in the rooms, etc. Unfortunately we did not experience all that. We only received the turn down service with towel animals twice the whole trip. No one came and got our beach towels so we would have dry ones the following day for excursions, etc. Our room was made up each day though.

 

Ship

The lobby was very nicely decorated for the holidays.

 

Food - we had American Fare with Anytime Dining for dinners. My friends usually do a timed dining plan. They said the difference was that we got random waiter groups instead of just one. But then we started asking for Artum who we loved and all was good. Lido was good for breakfast since we all woke up at different times. We ate lunch at Lido, or the deli or other like Guy’s burger which was good and we loved the Pizza team. Those pizzas are great and the team there was really nice. The only thing lacking on the ship was snacks. I would have loved to have been able to get nachos or tortilla chips and salsa, potato chips, pretzels, etc. about 2:30 – 5 or after 9pm. Overall the food was good and do not feel shy about ordering 2-3 appetizers or dinners or deserts, whatever you like. They can’t change the plates that are on the menu (like replace rice with potatoes or green beans instead of the asparagus). They are producing so much food that they can’t take different orders. So if you like the shrimp and the pork chops order both. They are relatively small portions and you can eat what you like off each plate. The waiters don’t care and expect it.

 

Elegant/formal night – It was so nice to see people dressed up for elegant night and we were actually looking forward to it. The first one was our first full day at sea and the last was our last full day at sea (also Christmas day). I would say that at least half of the people dressed in tux/suit with tie and nice gowns or dresses. Then about a quarter tried to dress up but did not really understand formal and the last quarter just didn’t care. Personally I think they should refuse to allow those in shorts or jeans, etc. access to the dining rooms. They can eat on the Lido deck for dinner those nights. But I think Carnival is so worried about offending anyone they let them all in. Oh well, we enjoyed dressing up.

 

Drinks – we got the Cheers package and for us it worked out well. I typically broke even with about 5-6 drinks a day. I am not a drinker (maybe 1-2 a week if we go out for dinner) but on vacation it was fun to be able to get different tropical drinks. Of course my kids made the program pay off for them. The drinks are not that strong and the days you are on the ship you are up fairly early and don’t go to bed until late. So 5-7 drinks a day is not that bad. Plus it included soda. Our friends did not get the Cheers program and I believe paid more than we did a lot of the days for drinks. So it will all depend on how you drink and plan on drinking more that you usually do.

 

Internet – The HUB app is great. We were all able to text each other (keeping our phones on airplane mode). That made life easy when someone was late or you were looking for someone to hang out with. Having the list of activities on my phone was great and you could star your favorites and then get a reminder when the activity was going to happen. Also able to check your Sail and Sign account, etc. Only $5 a piece to use the App. Make sure to Download the App prior to boarding! Otherwise you will be using your data plan to do it.

We only got the Social Media internet package for my son to talk to his girlfriend on FB - $25 for the week.

 

Activities aboard ship:

Arcade is wayyyy too expensive. On the last day at sea we realized we had not gone to the arcade at all. We went in and played some of the games (using Sail and Sign cards) and after about 20 min I checked my sail and sign card…..we spent $65. I got us out of there.

Casino – as most casinos, you win or you lose. One of the adults we went with did so well that he was comped a future 15 day cruise with all drinks for two but he plays the casino. That is one of his favorite places on the ship. The rest of us pretty much came away losing some money but no big deal.

 

Shows – The big shows in the Amber Palace were very well done. Mostly singing and dancing with various themes. Divas, Rock and Roll, and another. The performers were very good. The Christmas show was really cute for the kids.

The singers and DJ in other parts of the ship were very good and fun. We did not get some of the clubs.

The comedians were great! And half way through the cruise the first 2 comedians changed to another ship and we received 2 new ones. All were very funny.

 

Spa – I used the spa one day for a hot stone massage. It was very nice and well done and reasonably priced. The only complaint was the up-sale attempts at the end to buy products that cost more than the massage.

 

Pools/hot tubs – all were nice but on ship days very crowded.

 

Pictures – for those that like to have a lot of pictures of their trips they will have no problem finding a photographer to take them. We only had one taken on the first formal night. Most of the photographers were very polite when we said no thank you.

 

Shore excursions tomorrow.

[Crazyrbbt]

Thanks for the info. We are cruising on Glory in March and like the detail you have provided.

[GetmeoutofKentucky]

Shore Excursions:

After reading all of the horror stories of people being left behind, and checking prices of the excursions that we wanted to go on we stayed with Carnival sponsored ones except for one. Carnival sure made going on the excursions easy. Instructions on where to meet were dropped off to our room the prior night, meeting up was easy and getting off to the excursions well organized. The tour guides we had for all 3 excursions were great too and liked working with the Carnival group.

 

Grand Cayman – we booked the Stingray Encounter and Turtle Swim through Carnival. This is a tender port but since we were on a Carnival excursion we were led right off of the boat into a tender and on the dock in about 5 minutes. We boarded a mini bus (about 15 people per bus) and were driven out to the Turtle Farm. The farm was good but remember that a large percentage are being raised to sell as food. They also do some conservation and are helping some of the more endangered species of turtle. We enjoyed the snorkeling, etc. but I think younger kids would love it more.

We then boarded our bus and were taken to a boat to go out to the stingrays. The trip out took about 15 – 20 min and the staff aboard the boat were nice. We especially liked Jeremy who told us a lot about the island and area. When we got out to the sand bar there were a lot of other boats there but we anchored in part of a large circle of boats doing the same thing. There are plenty of stingrays to go around and we never felt crowded. Most of the people from our boat followed the captain so they could hold the stingrays but he really only wanted to get pictures of everyone so he could sell them to them later. We followed Jeremy who helped us hold a number of stingrays and told us about them. It was really amazing and there were a lot of various sizes of rays. Very gentle creatures.

 

Roatan – Luckily I read about Daniel Johnson and his Sloth and Monkey Sanctuary in the other Glory review. This was the highlight of our trip. Daniel picked us up just outside of the Carnival Port area (up and then down a small hill). He had an air conditioned mini van. He is very friendly and very enthusiastic about the island and is very proud of being a native islander and we got to hear about his heritage. He took us on a tour of the island and was very informative. We had a lot of fun just talking. The island has mountains and is very pretty. We then went to his small sanctuary. Monkeys are popular pets in Honduras and the island but as with many exotic pets, people don’t really want to take care of them. So gradually Daniel and his family were given one monkey, then another, etc. to take care of. Also a friend works lumbering in Honduras and found a young sloth which he brought to the island to Daniel. At this point he has about 5 adult and 2 baby sloths (they have both been born at Daniels), 8 capuchin monkeys, 3 spider monkeys, 2 raccoons, a coati, an agouti, 5 beautiful macaws and about 8 yellow headed or yellow crowned parrots. The facility is basically the family backyard in a beautiful cove and right on the water. There are a lot of mangrove trees for the animals and there are huge climbing or flying cages. Daniel said he allows the monkeys out each day and the sloths live in the trees during the day but are brought into the house at night often. The place was so clean and the animals looked so well taken care of. We got to hold them all and play with them and of course a lot of pictures.

One thing important – Daniel does not want his place to be too commercial and he limits the amount of people that come to it each day. He is concerned about stress on the animals. So this is not an advertised excursion. You have to contact him on Facebook.

After the animals he drove us to a beautiful resort with a beach and we had a great lunch. We arrived back to the ship in plenty of time.

 

Belieze – This is a tender port and the tender ride is pretty long. You can see the coast of Belize from the boat but it is far, maybe about 25 minutes. The day we arrived it was rough so it took a long time to get people off of the ship but they did it. We did the Snorkeling Wonders of the Barrier Reef tour. The small island they took us to was very nice, as were the people but since it was so rough we were only able to snorkel on the cove side of the island and it was hard to do there. There were a lot of people bumping into us too. The food on the island was hot dogs and hamburgers that were not very good and cost extra. If it had been a nice day and calm we would have been able to do more snorkeling but overall we did not feel this excursion was worth the cost.

 

Cozumel – This port has a very nice dock and the shops are there and the town is very close. We went on the All Inclusive Chankanaab Beach Day and Sea Lion show. We gathered with our tour and followed the tour guide to taxis. The taxis took us to the resort (only about 10 min away). Our guide was Luis and he was so much fun and knowledgeable. First we wend snorkeling (everything was included) and Luis and the other guides showed us around. They had 2 floats for those that could not swim and were very patient teaching new people how to snorkel. After the snorkeling we showered off (very nice bathrooms and showers) and then had about an hour and a half to ourselves. We wandered over to watch the people watching the dolphins and then ate lunch. Drinks (alcohol and other) and the buffet were included in our package. The food was pretty good and the area air conditioned. Then Luis came and joined us and we talked about his life and living in general in Belize. Next on the agenda was a nice walk through the gardens with statutes and buildings built in the Mayan tradition. Again, Luis knew his stuff and brought out maps and guides, etc. to show us. Then on to the sea lion show which was cute and mostly for kids. We then went to a small village there and Luis and a chef showed us how to make guacamole and eat it and then onto the tequila tasting. We tried at least 9 different tequilas and fun was had by all. Then a short trip to the shops and back in the taxis. We really enjoyed this tour and especially Luis.

 

Debarkation – since we had FTTF we received luggage tags for group 1. We put our bags out the night before and were all set by 8am. We got off and our luggage was going around the belt. Customs was easy and we were able to get out of the port fast before the mayhem. We got a cab to the Miami airport for a flat fee of $27.

 

If you have any questions I will be happy to help. Everyone on the forums were so helpful to us when we were planning our trip I am happy to help out.

[crmc]

Nice review! Looking forward to boarding next week!

[Caraec]

Thank you for your review. May I ask how long your waits were with Anytime Dining?